Even though he finished in fourth, Perez was still happy with the result. It means he remains second in the overall championship, with a 32-point gap between him and Sir Lewis Hamilton heading into the penultimate race. Mathematically, Hamilton is the only person who can challenge for second place.
Thanks to this win, Verstappen once again broke his own record for most races won in a season (now 17). But that’s the least interesting record he set. Verstappen also broke a record that stood for 71 years, and the season is not over yet.
In 1952, Alberto Ascari won six of the eight races in the F1 Championship, giving him a win percentage of 75%. Winning 17 out of 20 races puts Verstappen on 85%. Even if he doesn’t win the remaining two races, he’ll still finish on 77.27% – the highest win rate ever.
That’s a mighty impressive feat, showcasing Verstappen’s dominance this season, but he’s still behind Hamilton across his entire career. Verstappen’s win rate is 28.42%, while Hamilton is currently at 31.21%, even though he hasn’t won a Grand Prix in nearly two years.